The College Years
by Timothy D
Summary: During their time in college, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, and Sid decide to share an apartment together. What kind of hijinks will they get into and how will Ronnie Anne deal with having to supervise two super geeks?


As a kid, neither Ronnie Anne Santiago or Lincoln Loud were accustomed to being awoken by an alarm clock. Living in a house with 10 sisters and a twin had acted as Lincoln's alarm clock, with their morning time bickering and routines often stirring him from his slumber. Even after his older sisters had moved out, Lincoln still didn't require the assistance of some obnoxious machine to bring him out of dream land with his younger sisters being all too happy to help him out of bed on time. As for Ronnie Anne, whenever her brother and cousins weren't interrupting her sleep, it was her abuela waking her up to ensure she made it to school on time. Sometimes she'd get her dates mixed up and wake Ronnie Anne up on a beautiful Saturday morning that was intended for lazy lounging. In either case, until they reached college, the idea of sleeping in was one that was almost completely foreign to Lincoln and Ronnie. It just wasn't something they were used to.

Sid Chang on the other hand, came from a smaller family and didn't exactly have any rowdy siblings to disrupt her beauty sleep. While during the day, the young woman was spunky and vibrantly full of life, when she turned in for the night, she could sleep through a tornado taking place during an earthquake while a volcano erupted and the world devolved into nuclear war and wake up with her only complaint being a crick in her neck. It was practically a necessity that she have an alarm clock, otherwise Ronnie Anne and Lincoln would be forced to drag her out of bed and throw her into a full bathtub to wake her up. That's not to say that the alarm clock always worked as on some mornings, Sid would be so tired that she could even sleep through the blaring Reveille at full volume. This was one of those mornings.

Lincoln has been enjoying a pleasant dream involving himself engaging in international espionage and saving the world when Sid's alarm awoke him with a start. Lincoln groaned and buried his head in his pillow as the bugle call sounded throughout the trio's shared 3 bedroom apartment. Just when Lincoln was enjoying a dry martini on the beach while being fawned over by two attractive amazons. He was thankful that Ronnie Anne couldn't see inside his dreams. Lincoln waited for a couple more seconds, hoping that Sid would wake up and turn off the alarm so that he could return to his dream. When that wasn't the case, Lincoln groaned for a second time and sat up out of bed, taking a look at his phone to check the time. It was 7:15 AM.

"Ugh," Lincoln sighed as he reluctantly sat up out of bed and made his way towards Sid's room.

On his way there, he ran into Ronnie Anne in the hallway just outside Sid's door, who looked just as groggy as he was. Her hair was a mess and she had bags under her eyes, not that Lincoln looked much better. His hair was also in disarray and he had bags under his eyes as well as a trail of dried drool went down the side of his mouth.

"Let me guess, you got woken up too?" Lincoln asked.

"Yep," Ronnie Anne nodded. "And after my shift last night at the movie theater, I needed all the sleep I could get."

"Seriously, how does she manage to sleep through all that?" Lincoln asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Ronnie Anne said before sighing. "Come on, let's wake up sleeping beauty, shall we?"

The two of them opened the door and found Sid sitting at her desk, face buried in a large book with several sheets of paper discarded to the side. The room was shrouded in darkness with the only source of light coming from a lone lamp on Sid's desk. On the other side of the room, resting on Sid's bed stand was her alarm clock, continuing to go off at full volume to the point where it was bouncing off the bed stand. Sid herself wasn't fast asleep at her desk, seemingly caught up in her own little dream world. Covering his ears, Lincoln walked over Sid's alarm clock and turned it off while Ronnie Anne tried shaking Sid awake.

"Sid… Sid…" She said softly, shaking Sid.

"You already know that that's not going to work," Lincoln told her.

"You're right, what am I thinking?" Ronnie Anne said before grabbing Sid by her ear and yelling directly into it "SID! WAKE UP!!"

Still, the girl didn't stir, remaining in a state of blissful slumber. Sid didn't even so much as murmur as she continued sleeping peacefully. Were it not for the rhythmic movement of her chest as well as her light snoring, Sid could easily be mistaken as being dead. Ronnie Anne shook Sid a little harder, trying to get her to stir to no avail. When that failed, Ronnie Anne gently lifted Sid's head off of her desk, hoping that that would cause her to stir. No such luck as the moment Ronnie Anne let go of Sid's head, it flopped back down onto the desk with a thud. Lincoln then decided to try his own luck by grabbing a nearby paper bag, blowing it up and popping it right next to Sid's face. Even that however, failed to get a response from the shoulder shimmying soldier.

"Man, she's sleeping harder than usual," Lincoln observed.

"Yeah, I wonder what's got her so tired," Ronnie Anne said.

"Actually…" Lincoln said, taking a look at a nearby calendar. "I think I might have figured out the reason… take a look at this."

"What is it?" Ronnie Anne asked before getting a closer look at the calendar. One of the dates was circled with red ink with the words "LAW AND JOURNALISM TEST!" written in on it, underlined several times with a few skulls drawn surrounding it. "Oh…"

"Looks like Sid pulled an all nighter trying to study for her test," Lincoln said.

"She's been talking about this test for weeks," Ronnie Anne said. "Apparently, it's the first exam of the course and it accounts for 25% of her grade."

"Wow, if a single test makes up for of her grade, I don't blame her for being so concerned," Lincoln said. "I hope she didn't try cramming all the material into her head in one night."

"She didn't," Ronnie Anne said. "She's been spending her breaks in between classes in the library trying to study all week."

"I guess that explains why she's been more withdrawn than usual," Lincoln noted. "That might also explain why I found her laptop in the refrigerator."

"Are you telling me that you seriously didn't notice Sid's strange behavior until now?" Ronnie Anne questioned him.

"To be fair, I have my own upcoming exam to worry about," Lincoln retorted. "Well not so much exam as it is my midterm paper, but that's besides the point. What time is Sid's class?"

"I think she has an hour before she has to be there," Ronnie Anne said, "and Sid's professor is really strict when it comes to being on time. If she's even a second late showing up, she won't be allowed to take the test."

"I see," Lincoln said, placing his hand on his chin. "This does present quite the conundrum." He then shrugged and said "Still, it's not like we haven't been in a situation like this before."

"Right," Ronnie Anne said before asking "Should we try the usual?"

"I'll get the bucket," Lincoln said, walking off and retrieving a bucket filled with ice water. "You might wanna stand back."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Ronnie Anne said, taking a step back before Lincoln threw the bucket of water into Sid. Much to the pair's surprise, even that failed to rouse Sid in the slightest.

"Huh, that almost always works," Lincoln said.

"Alright, guess it's time to break out the big guns," Ronnie Anne said before hooking her iPhone up to a set of speakers, turning the volume all the way up to max and selecting her favorite Twelve is Midnight song.

The resulting music was loud enough that it knocked both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne against the wall. The speakers themselves were bouncing off the floor as K-pop blared through the trio's shared apartment. Yet still Sid remained unperturbed, still blissfully unaware of the world around her.

"Are we sure that she's not dead?" Lincoln asked as he and Ronnie struggled against the near sonic sound waves trying to turn off the speakers.

"You know, at this point I wouldn't be surprised," Ronnie Anne remarked as they turned off the music.

"Any other ideas?" Lincoln asked.

"Well when all else fails, the best way to get to Sid is through her stomach," Ronnie Anne said before going to the fridge and pulling out some tamales. "Abuela sent me these last week; it's a good thing I saved a few of them." She said as she put them in the microwave to heat them up.

"Your grandma sent you some of her famous tamales and you weren't going to share?" Lincoln asked. "That's kinda a dick move, yo."

"Well maybe if you hadn't eaten the last of the fajitas she sent me last time," Ronnie Anne retorted.

"There was no note!" Lincoln defended himself.

"Whatever," Ronnie Anne said, rolling her eyes as she took the tamales out of the microwave. "Let's just see if these can rouse Sid out of her sleep."

"How much time do we have left?" Lincoln asked.

"Let me see," Ronnie Anne said before checking her watch, "about fifteen minutes."

"Hmm, not much time to waste then," Lincoln said.

"Sid… Sid~…" Ronnie Anne said, holding a tamale under Sid's nose. For a second, the trick seemed to be working as Sid's lifted her head off the desk and followed the scent of Ronnie Anne's Abeula's famous tamales. "I think it's working."

Ronnie Anne waved the tamale around with Sid continuing to follow its smell. Ronnie Anne's plan backfired on her when a still sleeping Sid suddenly lurched forward and snatched the tamale out of Ronnie Anne's hand with her mouth, chomping down on Ronnie Anne's Hand hard in the process. The result was Ronnie Anne letting out a string of expletives in both English and Spanish at the top of her lungs. As to be expected at this point, Sid was none the wiser. Lincoln on the other hand had to stop himself from bursting into laughter.

"I'll give you credit where credit is due, you came closer than our previous efforts," Lincoln commended Ronnie Anne before joking "I just hope Sid doesn't develop a taste for human flesh after this."

"That's the last time I try something like that," Ronnie Anne said, holding her hand.

"Jeez, who knew that Sid could be such a heavy sleeper?" Lincoln whispered… and just like that, the sleeping beauty awoke.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!?" She shouted. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT TYPE OF TEST I HAVE TO TAKE TOMORROW!?"

"Sid, we…" Ronnie Anne tried to explain.

"This is literally the biggest, most important test of the semester and I've been trying to study my butt off to make sure I pass!" Sid said. "Practically my entire grade hinges on this test!"

"But Sid…" Lincoln tried to say.

"Seriously, can't you see that I'm trying to study!?" Sid asked. "Maybe you two don't have anything to worry about, but…" It was then that Sid noticed the sun was up. "Um… what time is it?"

"8 AM," Lincoln said.

"Oh my god, my class starts in 15 minutes!" Sid suddenly started to panic. "Thanks for waking me up guys! Wish I could talk more, but I've gotta get going!"

It was then that Lincoln and Ronnie Anne realized one crucial detail and tried talking to Sid "Sid, wait!"

"I don't have time to wait," Sid said, "If I'm even a few seconds late, I won't be allowed to take the test! I'll talk to you guys later, bye!"

With that, Sid ran out of the trio's apartment, wet clothes and all while forgetting her shoes in the process.

"So… how long do you think it'll take before she realizes it's a Saturday?" Lincoln asked.

"I figure when she gets to the Uni and finds out that no one's there, she'll realize," Ronnie Anne said.

Lincoln then yawned and said "I don't know about you, but I think I'm heading back to bed."

"Yeah, me too," Ronnie Anne said.

About half an hour later, Sid returned to the apartment, having finally realized her error. Unfortunately, in her rush out the door, she'd forgotten her keys and was locked out of the flat. Sid knocked on the door, but received no answer. Little did she know that inside the trio's apartment, Ronnie Anne and Lincoln were deep within a peaceful slumber with nary a care in the world. Turns out that the two of them had more in common with Sid than they thought as neither of them heard Sid pounding on the door and asking to be let inside.

"Hello? Hello!" Sid cried out, hoping that one of them would hear her. "I kinda forgot my keys and got locked out… again. Could one of you answer the door? Hello? Lincoln? Ronnie Anne?"

After a few more minutes of knocking on the door, Sid remarked "Wow, I didn't think that they were such heavy sleepers… unless… no they wouldn't do that. At least, I hope they wouldn't……… at the very least, I hope they wouldn't do it on the kitchen table."

It was then that Sid decided to head down to the local cafe, saying "I'll come back later. Might as well let those sleepyheads get their beauty sleep."


End file.
